Jack laughed. “Not a lot.”
“So you have a gardener?”
“Of course.”
Jack led her up the steps to the front door and she listened very carefully as he opened it and they walked into the vast hall.
“The house is big too,” she said. The door closed behind them and Rainn listened to the echo. “You must have a cleaner.”
“Correct,” said Jack.
“Is she here today?”
“No, just you and I.”
Rainn sniffer the air. “It’s clean,” she said. “Your cleaner does a good job. But there’s not much furniture. I can tell that much.”
“I like to keep it minimalist,” he said and took her arm. “Let me show you around.”
Rainn’s heels clicked on the floor. “No carpets,” she said. “Is it marble?”
“That’s right. There’s a few throws, a couple of rugs, for when I want to, you know, relax.”
They toured round the ground floor, Rainn making approving comments.
“I can’t believe how big it is,” she said.
Jack smiled. “It’s probably too much for one person.” He gazed at the curve of her chin and traced the line down her neck and between the buttons of her blouse.
Rainn smiled. “What?” she said. “What is it?”
“Oh, nothing,” said Jack. “Let me show you upstairs.”
He guided her up the steps with one hand on her back.
“A spiral staircase,” said Rainn. “I feel like a princess.”
“You look like one too.”
He took her into the two smaller bedrooms and she asked him to describe the furniture as she held onto the curtains and stroked her hand over the bedding.
“And this is my bedroom,” he said and ushered her in. He watched her as she walked around, carefully touching the objects she came across. He enjoyed watching her body move. It was a great pleasure, he realized, to watch her like this, without making her feel uncomfortable under his gaze.
“It’s a lovely room,” she said. “What’s this?” she asked as her hand came across a door handle.
“Bathroom,” said Jack. “Take a walk inside.”
Rainn smiled and opened the door. “Ooh,” he heard her say, “is this a hot-tub?”
Jack moved to the doorway and looked at her bending over with her hands stretched, searching out the sides of the tub. There was something erotic about watching her under the cold, clinical lights of the bathroom.
“It certainly is,” he said.
“It’s huge!” she exclaimed. “If I had one of these I would be in it every day.”
“I hardly ever use it,” he lied.
Rainn turned to face him as he looked her up and down. He then looked at the reflection of her back in the mirror. She was smiling at him and he stared blatantly at her pert breasts that appeared hard beneath her flimsy blouse.
“Well, that’s the guided tour,” he said.
“Thank you,” Rainn said, brightly. “It’s a great place. I’m glad I got to experience it.”
Jack said nothing. They could just hear his breathing echoing in the bathroom. He wanted to touch her, or touch himself. He could do that and she wouldn’t even know. He shook his head to get the thought out of his mind.
“Everything okay?” asked Rainn.
God, she was so innocent, Jack thought to himself. She couldn’t stay that way.
“Sure,” he said. “There’s a lovely breeze from the bedroom window. It faces right across the common, and you can smell the wild flowers. Come with me.”
Chapter Nineteen
Jack took Rainn’s hand and led her from the bathroom. He positioned her by the window and described the view to her.
“It’s spring,” she said, “it must be very green
“It is,” he said. Jack sat on the bed and watched her. She was stroking the curtains.
“What’s this?” she asked.
Jack laughed. “Just the curtain tie-back.”
“And this?” She was holding the thickly knotted tassel that hung down, almost caressing it and something in Jack broke.
“Rainn,” he said, very seriously. “You say stop, and I will stop. I promise. Anything else, I will ignore.”
Rainn frowned and turned towards the window, as if he were describing something out across the common.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
He stood up and moved behind her.
“Here,” he said and took her two slender wrists. She gave them to him as he knew she would. Rapidly, he pulled out the tie-back and wrapped it tightly round her wrists, binding them together.
Rainn gasped. “What are you doing?” she asked.
But Jack was not for speaking anymore. He pulled down the tassel and looped it around Rainn’s waist so he could hear the air escape from her. He twisted it behind her back and held it firmly in his clenched fist.
“Jack, no,” she said and twisted round. In a flash, Jack swung his hand and she felt the sting of his large palm connecting sharply with her ass. Rainn stopped dead still, breathing sharply.
“Yes,” breathed Jack. His voice was low and husky. He sounded satisfied. With a practiced movement he lifted Rainn’s skirt so it was held by the tassel and pulled down her panties. He slapped her again. This time the sound cracked around the bedroom and Rainn moaned.
Pulling the rope tight he repositioned her so she was standing over the bed. Jack inspected her. She writhed her body and Jack pulled on the rope.
“Don’t,” he said. This was no teasing.
With one hand grasping the knotted tassel and the other reaching under her ass, he threw her face down onto the bed. As she lay there, Rainn tried to kick out. Jack fell on her, pushing his hips and thighs between her legs, pressing her into the bed.
Rainn’s mind whirled. Part of her wanted him to stop. Part of her wanted to go back to how it was, to go back to the normal people they had been just moments before. But she knew there was no going back now. Jack could never undo what he had done. He would never be the same person.
She could stop it now, if she wished, but another part of her wanted the complete opposite. She wanted him to do with her body what he wanted and to do it greedily and urgently. And Rainn knew that this was the bigger part of her. The part of her that had laid dormant all her life, but which she had always known was there. It had grown with her, as all the small frustrations of her life had built up, and now it was unleashed. She must let today be the day.
Rainn’s arms were tied behind her back and Jack’s body covered the rest of her. She was helpless, at his mercy and the feeling thrilled her.
“You want this, don’t you?” Jack said in a husky voice that caused her to tremble with desire. “I know you do. I know you act all innocent and I, but in every sweet girl, there’s a dirty girl just waiting to get out. And I think you’re filthy.”
Jack pulled the hair from her face and twisted her head so he could see the expression on her face.
He put his other hand on her throat and kissed her. It was a kiss that Rainn let happen to her. He did it again and this time she responded, pushing his mouth up to his and letting his tongue flick between her lips.
Jack kissed her as if he were demanding something from her. He tensed his body against hers so she could feel its hardness. She pushed her tongue against his, reaching for his mouth. He stopped and they were both left breathless, Rainn struggling for breath against the bedsheets.
Jack gazed down at her, his eyes heavy with lust. Rainn could feel it. It was like nothing like she had ever felt before, an overwhelming sensation, to be the object of such desire.
Jack moved, pushing his knees apart so he straddled her, then turned her over. With one quick tear he ripped open her blouse and pulled away her bra, the material snapping in an instant. Rainn was so shocked she barely registered whether she had felt any pain.
Her breasts were exposed, firm and round, the nipples pointing up to the ceiling. Rainn’
s position, with her hands behind her back, pressed them upwards towards Jack and he stared longingly at them.
There was silence in the room apart from the heavy breathing of both of them.
Slowly and very gently, Jack traced kisses from Rainn’s chin and down the sensitive skin of her neck. At her throat he nuzzled delicately and felt Rainn’s breath become shallow and urgent.
Rainn felt her heart beat wildly and a heat burn within her chest, so fiercely it felt as if it may burn through her skin. As Jack went lower, the heat went with him.
As he lay down on top of her, she could feel the same hardness against the top her legs. Instinctively, she shifted position and lifted her hips so he was pushing against that part of her. Rainn let out a long, delicious moan.
Jack kissed around the curve of her neck and below her ears. Then his mouth travelled down over her chest, always nibbling, nuzzling, licking and sucking. He kissed all of her chest and shoulders but he did not touch her breasts. And the longer he stayed away from them, the harder Rainn’s nipples became, until she almost screamed in desire and frustration.
Rainn squirmed beneath him, as if trying to twist her body so that her breasts would meet his mouth. He ignored her and continued, as if frustrating her was all he desired.
“Please,” she said, in a voice that seemed to come from deep within her. “Please,” she begged, arching her back so that her breasts pushed even higher.
Jack pulled away from her and she could sense his gaze on her breasts. His hot breath poured onto her sensitive skin.
Then in one quick, flicking motion of his wrist, he whipped his hand across the top of her nipples. He barely touched them at all, but the sensation was so shocking, so divinely raw, that Rainn let out a high gasp of pleasure.
He did it again and again until Rainn thought her nipples could take no more. Then he brought his warm tongue over them, and like a cat at a warm saucer of milk, he lapped at them generously. It was so soothing, Rainn rocked her head and whispered, “yes, yes, more.”
As he continued, Rainn could feel the heat in her chest slide south and between her legs. As if he could sense it also, he followed it down, until he had pressed his hand between her legs, as sparks of electric pleasure shot down her thighs.
He pressed his lips against hers again, kissing greedily, trying to feed his hunger for her.
“Do you like this?” he demanded angrily.
“Yes,” she managed, in between kisses, her voice dripping with need. “Touch me. Please, touch me.”
Jack put his mouth to her breasts while he rubbed his hand between her legs, ever more urgently.
“Yes . . . please,” shouted Rainn. She bucked her hips upwards, desperate for him to press against her.
Jack stood and pulling on the tassel he dragged her to the edge of the bed. He pulled away her skirt and ripped her panties till they came away in shreds.
Rainn dropped her head back, still at his mercy with her hands tied behind her back, but she knew now that she liked it. She could not deny it any longer. Not to herself, anyway. She was exposed and at his mercy and she loved it.
Jack let his fingers explore between her moist folds. Waves of pleasure broke over her until she thought she might drown in it. He continued to work her, pursuing new avenues of pleasure. Rainn gasped. She had not known half of this was possible or what it would do to her.
Then he stopped and his hands grabbed her thighs, forcing them further apart. He held them tightly and she felt his hardness slide over her, once, twice, three times until she was gurgling with the need for it. Then he was inside her, thrusting powerfully and her whole body shuddered with the force of him. Stars exploded brilliantly in Rainn’s darkness and she seemed to sail across the bed on huge surge of pleasure.
Jack placed one large hand on her stomach and another holding the small of her back. Then he began to work at her thrusting ever more deeply until the pressure built up in her again. The bed banged in the empty house and it seemed the whole room was rocked by the violence of their love.
Jack grunted as if warding off some terrible pain and Rainn felt herself scream with desire. The sound of their skin slapping became a pleasure in itself, doubling up with the sensation.
The pressure grew to boiling point. Rainn felt like a kettle screaming on the hob. Just when she thought she could last no longer, Jack span her around and dived onto her, his chest on her back. He pumped harder and she could hardly keep the breath in her body.
Jack brought his hands to her throat and pressed till she thought her body would explode with lust. As the waves of hot joy flooded around her, he pushed his fingers into her mouth and she bit down with vengeful lust.
The spoke little after it was over. Rainn showered and Jack ordered a pizza. They ate it in the too-clean kitchen with the radio on.
Jack talked about his job and relayed some anecdotes about celebrities he thought she might know. But he spoke without real interest and picked at his food.
There seemed little else to do that day so Jack suggested he take her home and Rainn agreed. She was silent in the car and Jack was absorbed in his own thoughts.
Rainn was scared. Scared because she enjoyed it. Scared because she wanted to do it again, as soon as possible. How could this be? She had never thought of herself as this person and her base animal desire disturbed her.
How could she face up to the person she was? Worst still, how could she present herself to others, knowing she felt like this?
But she most worried about how Jack would see her. It made no sense, in one way, as he had initiated it. But had it not been a test? He had given her the option to stop, and she had gone through with it. And if he hadn’t been expecting her to stop, what did he think of her now. She had assumed it was her good character he longed for, but was it all only this. Was she now just like all his other women, only in his life for the thrill of rough sex?
When they got back to her house, she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and said goodbye.
Chapter Twenty
When Jack got home he opened a bottle of wine and slumped down in the sofa. Very soon he was on the harder stuff.
“Well, Jack, you imbecile,” he said to himself, the words filling the empty house. “Well done.” He raised the glass to the image of himself in the mirror. “Well done,” he repeated. “You took the one innocent, sweet thing in your life, the one thing that hadn’t all gone to shit and you defiled it.”
He walked around the house as if in conversation with someone unseen.
“The one thing that might have saved you, and you fucked her. Couldn’t help yourself, could you?”
He put the glass down on a table and wiped his brow.
“And what will she think of you now? She think you are a freak. A dirty freak.”
Jack poured himself another drink. “And she’d be right about that. Because that’s what you are.”
He picked up his phone and dialled. “Well,” he said, “you’re a freak, might as well hang out with the freaks.”
“Talking to yourself, stranger?”
“Chelsea,” Jack said. “How’s my freaky-pie?”
“How’s your new girlfriend?”
Jack laughed. “You’re kidding, aren’t you? Didn’t I tell you, it was just some PR thing.”
“You said taking flowers to the hospital. I didn’t realize you had to bag her too.”
“Come on! Seriously? Can you imagine me banging that sack of spuds? You know you’re the one who’s got what I need.”
“Well, Jackie-boy, I’m afraid things move on.”
“Oh, shit,” said Jack. “You’re not out with some half-wit footballer, are you? You know he’ll only get you home so you can see who’s got the best leg waxing.”
Chelsea laughed. “He is kind of dull. But I’m not sure what you’ve got to offer me anymore.”
“Ask your boyfriend what a sugarloaf cabochon sapphire is. Don’t bother, he won’t know. But there’s one waiting for you here.”
“Interesting. Anything else.”
“Some first-class cocaine and outrageously good sex. Hop in a taxi.”
Jack put down the phone and took another gulp of his drink.
It was only twenty minutes before Chelsea rang the doorbell. She must really want that sapphire, thought Jack and climbed down to his cellar for a bottle of champagne.
It was polite of her to ring when she could have just let herself in. Still, she wasn’t a bad girl, not a bad girl at all.
When he came back up she was standing in the kitchen. Damn, thought Jack, she looked good. She looked like a young woman should.
“How do you keep your skin looking so good?” he asked for no reason.
“Clean living.”
“Clean living,” repeated Jack, swaying slightly. “What’s that?”
Chelsea laughed like honey. “You’re drunk,” she said. “Good.” She looked at the bottle. “I hope that’s good champagne.”
“What do you know about champagne?” he asked.
“What do you know?”
“A little, but if it’s more than the person I’m talking to, I can pretend that it’s a lot.”
“I normally judge a bottle by its price,” said Chelsea.
Jack nodded. “I expect you do.”
“So, how much did that cost you?”
Jack lifted the bottle and gazed unsteadily at the label. “Four figures. Most probably.”
Chelsea sniffed. “It will do.”
Jack opened the bottle and took two glasses from a cupboard and they sat on stools by the breakfast bars. Chelsea did her make-up, for no reason that Jack could possibly see.
“Nice legs,” said Jack.
“Thanks.”
“Very strong thigh muscles. Good for gripping.” He poured the champagne. “Cheers.”
“Cheers,” said Chelsea, still doing her make-up.
Jack drank the champagne. It was very good. Or he imagined it was very good, it was difficult to tell after all that he had drunk.
“So,” he said, “how are you?”
“What?” said Chelsea, putting down her mirror.
“How are you?”
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